Forum Index
»
Off-Topic
Does anybody hang their laundry to dry in the sun?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
| I just moved from the UK and was pleasantly surprised to find use of disposable plastic shopping bags so actively discouraged. That was before I noticed that none of the prospective rental houses we visited had a clothesline. Surely everyone doesn't just dry their laundry in a machine?! Greener shopping habits are a nice first step but surely the constant use of clothes dryers causes far greater environmental damage due to the use of fossil fuels. What's worse is that there is so much sunshine here so it would be easy to conclude that there is a certain amount of laziness involved..... |
Anonymous
|
I do - but I am the exception - and it is nore to sun bleach stains than to dry all of our clothes .... however we are working on some renovations that will include getting a clothesline put in and this is to be more environmentally aware.
|
Anonymous
| I routinely sun dried the cloth diapers my babies wore. Since I did not have a clothes line, I used a clothes drying rack. |
Anonymous
|
I hang all of our clothes and sheets in an unfinished basement to dry. Yes, I'm lazy because our washer is in the basement, so it would be a pain to drag it outside.
If you make conclusions based on stereotypes, you probably won't make friends with the locals while you're here and that would be a shame. Welcome! |
Anonymous
|
This climate is too humid to hang clothing outside; it doesn't dry well.
I do use laundry racks in the basement to hang clothing. |
Anonymous
|
It always amazes me how people who write a post that starts out with a "I'm such a good person for wanting to care about the environment" often end it with being snippy. .
A lot of home owners associations do not allow clothes lines. It's considered an eyesore. I imagine this will start to change as the green movement keeps moving forward. But don't judge people who aren't allowed. We could hang our clothes up to dry (technically), but we don't, because they would be covered in bird poop. We get lots of birds, from our huge trees and wildlife friendly yard. Maybe I should cut the trees down and poison the birds so I can hang out my laundry so I don't appear lazy 
And I do hang some of my laundry - inside, in the basement. And I'm a firm believer in the right way to "go green" is to embrace small steps. Anytime you start criticizing people for not being 100 percent green, all you do is create a backlash and harm the movement. |
Anonymous
The reason people in the UK hang their laundry is because most people don't have room for a separate tumble dryer and the washer/dryer combos don't dry the clothes well. The majority of people with a large enough house or flat has a tumble dryer. |
Anonymous
| I think culture plays some part in this. Maybe if we washed smaller loads more frequently, we could line dry more often. As it is, when you have a lot of clothes to do, line drying isn't always feasible unless you have the space. |
Anonymous
|
Clothes rack next to the very large and sunny window. We line-dry nearly everything, especially DD's cloth diapers.
But we are lazy, because we iron nothing at all
Now in Scotland, where I used to live, we could never line-dry anything - too rainy and humid. |
Anonymous
| Nope. Too humid. And anyway, the sun bleaches the fabric so you can't keep your clothes as long. When I lived in Europe, i hated the stiff feel of air-dried clothes and especially towels. |
Anonymous
|
Our homeowners association does not allow laundry hanging outside.
But at our old house we hung our laundry outside all the time - DH complained b/c his shirts weren't soft so I had to dry his stuff in the dryer. |
Anonymous
|
I think its a space and appearance issue here. People don't really have the room in their small to postage stamp size lots for clothes lines, and I think in some cases, it might be considered *low class*.
The humidity arguement is bunk, actually. I grew up in South Jersey, in a beach town and it was, maybe, just a touch less humid than it is here. Some of my favorite memories involve sun-dried laundry: I don't think my brother I got tired of playing tag through the clothes or using drying sheets for forts or tents until i was 10. Hanging clothes on the line was the only chore my parents didn't have to get after me to do. It also did help that I never had to iron, which is the thing i hate doing most in this world. |
Anonymous
|
OP here. Gist of my question was whether people always use machines and so it's good to hear that basements are put to such good use (and clearly don't give home owners associations anything unsightly to frown over). Will have to get DH to rig up some sort of line in the basement and hope rampaging toddlers don't sabotage my laundering efforts. 22:07 - I too am non-ironer and would love to attribute it to an energy saving consciousness but know better.
Sorry if people were offended by my comment about laziness. We bought a dryer after birth of my second little one last year and I often had to force myself to hang the laundry out when weather was fine rather than bundle it into the machine. Clearly, I sometimes succumbed to temptation. I conclude that it's always tempting to take the easier route when you are busy and have too much to do. Perhaps 'laziness' is too harsh a term... |
zumbamama
Member Offline
Member Offline
|
I've been using my clothesline 100% since my dryer died two weeks ago. But before it died, we used the clothesline 50% of the time. If we have time to hang it up, we will, but if I'm doing laundry at 11pm after a long day, and I need dry clothes by 8 the next morning, then I'm stuffing them in the dryer! Or at least, two weeks ago I was.
Since I've been without it, I've been much more conscious about allocating enough time to hang up the clothes. And since I've been fine without it for 2 weeks, I think maybe I could go all summer without a dryer. |
Anonymous
|
I can't stand the smell of my clothes being dried outside on a line. My mom did when we were young.
Its nasty. Its not a nice smell at all. I have no clue why people thing its such a charming idea. |